DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- President Bashar Assad promised that no Iraqi refugees will be forced out of Syria while their country remains unsafe, the U.N. refugee chief said Friday.
High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has been touring the Middle East in an effort to get more assistance for the refugees. There are about 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria and 450,000 to 500,000 in Jordan, as well as thousands who fled unsafe neighborhoods to other parts of Iraq.
Guterres met with Assad and said afterward he had received a pledge that Iraqis can stay in Syria whether they entered legally or not, Alsumaria reported.
Ron Redmond, Guterres' spokesman, said the Iraqi refugees are not as visible as some others because they have settled in Amman and Damascus and are not living in large camps, CNN reported. But Redmond said Syria and Jordan, especially, are having a hard time dealing with the exodus.
